College football’s AP Top 25: Ohio State moves back into Top 10

Ohio State running back Mike Weber, left, celebrates his touchdown against Michigan State with teammate Johnnie Dixon during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday in Columbus, Ohio.
Jay LaPrete — The Associated Press

Miami is back at No. 2 in The Associated Press college football poll , the Hurricanes’ best ranking since 2003.

The undefeated Hurricanes leaped five spots from No. 7 after routing Notre Dame on Saturday night. Alabama remained No. 1, where it has been since the preseason, getting 57 first-place votes. Miami received the other four first-place votes.

Oklahoma moved up to two spots to No. 3, jumping Clemson, which remained No. 4. Unbeaten Wisconsin moved up a spot to No. 5.

Three matchups of top-10 teams on Saturday produced lopsided victories for the home teams, including Miami over Notre Dame. The Irish dropped six spots to No. 9.

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Auburn moved up to No. 6 after beating Georgia. The Bulldogs fell from second to seventh. TCU dropped out of the top 10 after losing at Oklahoma.

POLL POINTS

The Atlantic Coast Conference is finally getting the Miami it invited to join the league back in the early 2000s. In the four seasons before the Hurricanes entered the ACC in 2004, they went 46-4, won a national championship, nearly won another, were ranked as high as No. 2 in the country each season and never finished lower than fifth.

When the Hurricanes were placed in the Coastal Division, opposite Florida State and Clemson in the Atlantic, the conventional wisdom was that they would routinely reach the league championship game and give the ACC a perennial national championship contender to go along with Florida State.

Since then, Miami has never reached the ACC title game or finished better than 11th in the final AP rankings.

THIS WEEK IN ‘BAMA

Alabama notched its 101st appearance at No. 1 in the AP poll, matching Oklahoma for second most behind Ohio State’s 105. The Tide should take over sole possession next week after its plays Mercer and could match the Buckeyes if it runs the table as No. 1 this season.